Cheshvan is the type of month that brings to mind the expression “Twice the pride, double the fall.” Tishrei is a month that is packed with holidays. Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkos, Hoshana Rabbah, Shemini Atzeres, and Simchas Torah. Then comes the month of Cheshvan, and what do we have? Nothing. It is the most mundane of all the months. Not a single Yom Tov. The only “happy” part of the month is that we finally have a chance to go back to work and earn a living! Not too exciting, is it? No wonder this month carries the nickname “MarCheshvan” – “Bitter Cheshvan.” Yet, we know that each month carries its own unique avodah. Hence, our goal is to discover in what way Cheshvan is special and how we should be serving Hashem during this time.
It is well known that each one of the twelve months of the year is aligned with one of the twelve tribes. The Arizal writes that Cheshvan is aligned with Menashe. So what do we know about Menashe? Chazal teach that while Ephraim stayed and learned under Yaakov, Menashe helped Yosef run the kingdom. It seems Menashe was a working man. Perhaps that is why he was matched up with Cheshvan – the month where one is primarily at the office.
But what is special about the working man? Now, don’t get me wrong. Of course it is necessary to work. The world has to function, and manna doesn’t fall from the sky anymore. But where is the holiness in the workplace? If each month is unique in the way we serve Hashem, then in what way can we explain the working month? As a great rosh yeshiva once told his student who was itching to leave yeshiva and start working for a company: “Don’t forget, when Hashem told Adam ‘You shall eat by the sweat of your brow,’ it was a curse not a blessing!” Yes, we nebach have to go to work. But wouldn’t our avodas Hashem be much greater if we could focus on spirituality all day?
One might suggest that Menashe’s greatness was because he was an enabler. If Menashe didn’t keep the kingdom going, Ephraim would not be able to learn. We see such a thing regarding Yissachar and Zevulun. Zevulun would work and support Yissachar in his learning, with the result being that they shared in the heavenly reward. There is definitely truth to this idea. Indeed, Pirkei Avos (3:21) states, “If there’s no bread, there’s no Torah.” So perhaps the greatness of the working man is that he enables others to fulfill the Torah.
However, there still is a slight problem. Let’s read the Mishna in its entirety. “If there is no bread there is no Torah. If there is no Torah there is no bread.” We explained the first half of the Mishna to be read “If we didn’t have bread, we wouldn’t be able to have the Torah.” If we were to presume a parallel explanation, the second statement would read “If we didn’t have the Torah, we wouldn’t have bread.” What does this mean? Granted, we need bread to eat and survive, and if we didn’t eat and survive we would not be able to live and keep the Torah. But what does the Mishna mean when it says we need the Torah in order to have bread? Don’t the nations of the world have bread even without having the Torah? (Maybe you’ll suggest that the Mishna means that if we didn’t have the merit of Torah we would not be blessed with bread. But shouldn’t we presume a parallel in the explanation of the two halves of the Mishna? If the first statement said nothing of merits and only connotes a direct connection, one should assume that the second statement is not said in terms of merit either.) So what does the Mishna mean?